Unrequited
by PrettyGothGirl
Summary: RG: Gippal has a girlfriend, which is breaking his best friend's heart until she can't take it anymore and demands to know who it is. The answer wasn't what she expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Unrequited**  
by PrettyGothGirl  
**Summary:**Gippal has a girlfriend and he doesn't know that he's breaking his best friend's heart.  
**Author's Note:** Happy Birthday to ToFadeAwayAgain aka Jezzi! Ahem, this song was inspired by the song Teardrops on my Guitar by Taylor Swift. And I did make Rikku/Gippal AMV for the song, however it has been rejected by Youtube and alas you won't be able to see it.

Gippal dipped his fries into the catsup. "You know, I'm really happy." He said without looking at her.

Rikku bit her lip and tried to ignore the pain in her chest. He glanced at her and she smiled at him. "You look it." She forced past the lump in her throat, and it wasn't because of her. There was another girl. Gippal had a girlfriend. Rikku hadn't seen this coming. The two of them were so close. It had seemed like they were on the edge of a real relationship and one step would have put them there and now this.

He leaned back and grinned. "Really?"

"Really." She kept eye contact with force of will. It was the only way she knew how to lie to him. He could read her other tells so easily if he wasn't pinned down by her eyes.

"Well, I am."

Rikku dropped her eyes to the food and picked up a fry. She twirled it around in her fingers. "So, when do I get to meet her?" She took a little bite and swallowed. She didn't want to meet her. She didn't want to know what she had been measured to and lost.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"She's the love of your life and I don't get to meet her?" Rikku fed the rest of the fry into her face.

"Well…" He shifted. "I just don't think it would be," he paused. "Right. I mean, my girlfriend meeting my best friend who also happens to be a girl."

Rikku grabbed a few more fries and shoved them into her mouth all at once. She wanted to ask how beautiful the other girl was. She bet the other girl was gorgeous, flawless. Gippal had high standards in everything. She bet he had high tastes in girls too. She chewed and swallowed past that stupid lump. She didn't know how to be gorgeous. She only knew how to be cute and flawless wasn't a word even remotely in her vocabulary. Dirty and rumpled was more her thing.

Gippal sucked salt off his fingers. Her eyes snapped to the motion and she forced them to look away. Why did he have to be so perfect? So sexy? He didn't seem to try. He just was!

"Don't you think?" He asked.

"I guess." Rikku shrugged. Her heart pounded. She had to turn this around. She had to. She couldn't give ground to a girl she had never even met. She was Gippal's friend. He'd been hers first. Her eyes narrowed. "If she can't handle me as your friend, then it's her loss."

His jaw dropped a little. "Rikku, that's not nice."

"I'm not always nice."

He rolled his eyes. "You can meet her later, when we're more settled."

Rikku snorted. "Sure." She grabbed the rest of the fries. "Next thing she'll demand that you stop seeing me, since I'm a girl and all." She hooded her eyes so he couldn't see the jealousy.

"She's not like that."

Then why couldn't she meet her? Damn it. She started to eat the fries one by one just so she wouldn't have to answer him. Why had Gippal _done_ this too her? Didn't he know how much she loved him? No. He went and found another girl and now what was she supposed to do. Sit tight and hope. Sabotage the relationship. She didn't want to _hurt_ Gippal and if he _loved_ the girl and was really happy. Being happy for him wasn't good enough. She wanted to be happy for them, them together, because they were meant to be together.

"Rikku. She isn't. Look. She's a great girl and-"

"You're happy." Rikku finished.

"Yeah. I am. I love her."

She just bet he did. She fake smiled at him again. "Good."

"She loves machines and traveling and sports. She wants to live her own life and be with me. It's great." He said. Rikku's heart sank to the vicinity of her toes. She had no chance now. Not if the other girl loved machines and _traveled._ Gippal continued. "She looks really cute when she's dirty. She makes me laugh." Gippal's eyes became distant.

"She sounds wonderful." Rikku put her hands in her lap to clench her fingers, sobbing on the inside. Did they have to talk about her anymore? She didn't care. She didn't want to know. The other girl had stolen his heart away from her reach and she didn't even know who it was so she could steal it herself. And she'd better take care of, take care of Gippal. The other girl had better hold him and cuddle him. Gippal needed snuggles and cuddles. Touch grounded him. Rikku knew because she'd known him forever and had thought that someday she would _need_ that knowledge. The other girl had better kiss him and treat him right. Or else Rikku was going to come and kick her ass. She'd hurt the other girl physically as much as she had hurt Gippal emotionally.

"Wonderful is a good word."

Rikku's radio tweeted. She almost sobbed aloud in relief. She pushed away from the table and stood. "I better go see what they want." It didn't matter what they wanted. She was going to go back to her bed, curl up around Gippal's picture and bawl for a bit. She needed a good cry until she was exhausted. And then she could take a nap, wake up and go on with her life as if it didn't matter. Or she could try to go on with her life. One didn't lose their first love everyday.

He grinned at her. "The demands of working for yourself." Another commonality that had bound them together that was meaningless now. Where was she going to find another guy who understood the demands work put on her time without demanding her to do something else? She loved what she did.

"Yeah." She smiled back and for the first time since he brought up his girlfriend it was a real smile. She looked down at the table. She should lean over and kiss him. Show him how much of her heart he had and how it'd broken in little tiny pieces. She wouldn't. He was happy. She had always wanted him to be happy, truly happy. That was part of love, wasn't it? "Lunch next week?"

"Sure thing."

She walked away, head high. She didn't look back. Not even to wave as she usually did. If she did, her charade would break and she'd burst into helpless tears before running away. And he'd run after her and then he'd know what he'd done… and he was happy. She didn't want to make him upset over something he hadn't known about and couldn't control. It wasn't his problem. She would get over it, someday.

He watched her go. He wondered if she would ever figure out he was lying to both of them. Wondered when she would figure out she was the girl he was talking about. He'd have to tell her, when she got up the courage to ask who it was. He hoped that day would come soon. He loved her so much it hurt.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Unrequited**  
By PrettyGothGirl  
**Summary:**Gippal has a girlfriend, which is breaking his best friend's heart until she can't take it anymore and demands to know who it is. The answer wasn't what she expected.  
**Author's Note:** Happy Birthday to Siilentfall. I don't know if she has a account, but happy birthday anyways! Well, so much for the video, in fact, so much for youtube for me. I am fed up. Go listen to Taylor Swift's Teardrops on my Guitar, good song and not so sad for me after I wrote this story. :)

"You lied!" Rikku wailed against his chest.

A few minutes earlier

She burst into his office. She had to know who it was. It had been eating away at her psyche all week and she couldn't take it anymore. She stared at the stars, but she had no reason to make wishes on them. It was all she had to do at night though. She couldn't sleep and if she did sleep she had weird dreams that she couldn't remember. The door slammed against the wall and bounced back. She didn't care if there was anyone there. She _had_ to know.

"Who is it?"

He looked up, eyes wide. "Whoha?" It wasn't his most articulate answer ever. She looked awful. Dark rings under her eyes that were all red and puffy from the tears silently streaming down her cheeks. _Oh no._ His brain raced. He hadn't expected _this._

"Who is she?" She needed to know. So, she could go beat her up. Kill her and take back the man that was rightfully hers. Gippal was her man, no one else's. She no longer cared if he loved the other girl or not. She no longer cared if he was happy. She wasn't happy. She was miserable without the hope of him being more than just a friend someday. She marched around his desk and grabbed him by his stupid yellow suspenders and dragged his face towards hers. "Who?"

"Rikku."

"Who?" Her voice cracked.

"Rikku." He took hold of her waist and gently pulled her into his lap.

"Who is it? Tell me, Gippal."

"You." He pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you."

She stared at him. "Bu-bu-bu-" It couldn't be possible. He had said the other girl was his girlfriend. It couldn't be her. "Bu-"

He twisted his head and kissed her. His lips made soft demands against hers. She tasted of salt and he broke the kiss far too soon for his liking. She needed to breath. She sniffled. "I love you." He repeated.

"You lied!" She wailed into his chest.

"I didn't."

"You did! You said she was your girlfriend and if you love me, I'm _not_ your girlfriend and-" She babbled.

"Rikku, slow down."

"-And you said I couldn't meet her yet and if I am her of course I've met her and you lied!"

He had said those things. It hadn't meant that he was lying about them. It was confusing he knew. She couldn't meet his girlfriend until she became his girlfriend and, he sighed. Take it from her point of view he might as well bite the bullet. "I'm sorry."

"You should be."

He rubbed up and down her back. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You said you were in _love_ with someone and you didn't mean to hurt me?" She reared back, eyes widening.

"I hoped you would ask who it was." He flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. He met her eyes. "I _wanted_ you to ask who it was. I-" he deflated. "I'm sorry." He obviously wasn't as good at handling women like he thought he was.

"You _wanted_ me to ask. I- I- I wanted to _kill_ her but- but you were happy." She sniffled again.

"I _am_ happy." He inhaled. "I'm not happy that I made you cry, but I'm happy that I love you."

She wiped at her cheeks with the side of her hand. "You love me?" She asked, voice rising in pitch with each word.

"I do." He reached around her to his desk and grabbed a tissue. He handed it to her.

She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "And there isn't another girl." She sounded lost.

"Never." He stilled the hand rubbing her back.

She licked her lips. "I love you too. But-"

"But?"

"That doesn't mean I forgive you for lying to me." She paused. "And making me cry."

He inhaled. "I'm not starting out on the best foot am I?"

"Not really." She smiled a little.

"Despite all this, will you be my girl?"

"I've always been your girl." She poked him. "You just didn't know it."

He rolled his eyes and grinned. "I meant in a more official type way."

"I dunno," She lowered her eyelashes and looked up at him between them. "If this is how you're going to be, I don't know if I should. I'd only end up getting hurt."

"Well, I'd offer to go beat myself up, but that is rather difficult."

She giggled. "I could beat you up."

He shuddered. "I'd rather live, thanks."

"I wouldn't _kill_ you, that would make the entire idea of being your girl moot. You wouldn't be around for me to _be_ your girl."

He blinked. "Is that a yes or am I misinterpreting girl speak."

"Girl speak?"

"The language all girls speak that no male can quite comprehend because our brains aren't wired that way."

"Oh." She grinned and put her head against his chest. "We could try, I guess."

"Try? Rikku, I don't know about you, but I'd rather do. None of this trying nonsense."

She laughed. "Have it your way." She sighed, turned and dropped the tissue into his already overfull garbage can.

"You make it sound like such a concession."

She looked up at him, eyes welling with tears again. "I thought I lost you."

He pulled her close and put his head on top of hers. "It was only a thought, not the reality. You'll never lose me, even if you want me to go away. I am a bad gil. I'll come back." He paused. "And I described you perfectly. It's not my fault you don't recognize yourself when someone talks about you."

"Gippal?"

"What?"

"Am I gorgeous?"

"Absolutely positively, no question."

"Even when I'm dirty?"

"Especially when you're dirty." He leered. It was a good thing she couldn't see him because she would have pinched him.

"So, I'm the standard." She said. He had to think about what that meant for a few minutes. He didn't say anything fast enough. "That all the other girls have to compete against."

Understanding filled him. "There is no competition. You're it." He nuzzled her hair.

"Huh." She wiggled.

They didn't say anything for a few minutes. Rikku gradually let his suspender go, stroking his chest through his shirt. He didn't know what to say, in fact he wasn't sure if he should say anything. He let her do her thinking, while he mentally kicked himself over hurting her, even if it was unintentional and partly her own fault. Girls.

She closed her eyes and listened to his pulse, or maybe it was her pulse. He was really hers. There wasn't anyone else. There was no other female. She was the female and, her heart sped up and if he hadn't been holding her in his lap and hadn't smelled so maley and Gippaly, she would be flying about the room. He said she was gorgeous and, and, she'd treat him right. She could cuddle him and touch him and kiss him.

"Gippal." She broke the silence.

"What?"

"I remember this kiss."

"Me too."

She looked up. "Do you think we could-"

He grinned, leaned down and cut her off with his lips.

They wouldn't have been quite so carefree, if they had known about the group of workers hanging just out of sight of the doorway listening to every word and grinning at each other.

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